U.S. nets no new jobs in August

In its weakest jobs report in a year, the Labor Department announced Friday that the sputtering economy added no net jobs in August, while the nation’s 9.1 percent unemployment rate remained unchanged.

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Obama, who will deliver what the White House is billing as a major jobs speech Thursday to a joint session of Congress, did not comment on the disappointing and unexpected numbers. He had no public appearances scheduled and left Friday for Camp David for the weekend.

Katherine Abraham, a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, stressed that “it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report” because of regular fluctuations in employment figures.

“Clearly, faster growth is needed to replace the jobs lost in the downturn,” she said in a statement. “Today’s report underscores the president’s call for Congress to pass a clean extension of the transportation bill to keep workers on the job and keep critical highway construction, bridge repair, mass transit and other important projects moving forward.”

Abraham added, “Next week, the president will lay out a series of additional bipartisan steps that Congress can take immediately to put more money in the paychecks of working and middle-class families, to make it easier for small businesses to hire workers, to put construction crews to work rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure, and other measures that will help the economy grow while still reducing our deficit and getting our fiscal house in order.”

The dismal jobs report sparked new fears of a recession and sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeting at the market’s opening, dropping more than 200 points in the first few minutes of trading and closing down 253 points for the day.

The employment figures were the weakest since September 2010, when there was a slight decline in the number of jobs created, The Associated Press said.

Analysts said a number of factors contributed to the lack of job creation, including Standard & Poor’s downgrade last month of the U.S.’s AAA credit rating, wilting business and consumer confidence, increased layoffs by state and local governments, and the recent Verizon strike of 45,000 workers that took place while the Labor Department collected its unemployment data. Those employees are now back on the job.

Republicans quickly took aim at Obama, who recent polls have shown has lost the confidence of a majority of the American people in his handling of the economy.

“Today’s unemployment numbers are another painful reminder that America still awaits economic leadership from President Obama,” Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement. “He spent his summer fundraising and golfing, promising to lay out a jobs plan only after his Martha’s Vineyard vacation — all while nearly 14 million Americans remained jobless.”

“If the president refuses to change course, America’s unemployed with be the victims of his failure,” Priebus added.

House Speaker John Boehner said higher taxes and burdensome federal regulations have created “a fog of uncertainty” for small businesses and Americans.